1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of hand tools which experience rough handling and are regularly subjected to high levels of moisture.
In particular the invention relates to means and method for extending the useful life of such tools under such conditions.
The invention further relates to tools used in the building trades wherein the need to level the work-in-progress is an important aspect of the job at hand.
2. Prior Art
The work performed by the professional home builder is often carried further by the owner or resident of the new home. Both the professional and the amateur, or occasional, craftsmen, have the same tools available to them. Yet, while the home-craftsman's tools seem to last forever, often being passed from father to son to son, the professional's tools frequently need to be replaced several times a year. This is especially true of tools used in cement and plaster work, as well as hand held tools.
Such tools when used almost daily by the professional will, of course, degrade faster than when given only infrequent use by the occasional craftsman. Tools infrequently used are subject to less rough usage than that experienced by tools of the professional craftsman. When used under conditions of high moisture, the occasionally used tool will generally be allowed to thoroughly dry before being subjected to wet usage again. However, when the professional uses his tools daily under such conditions, the tools get little opportunity to dry. Instead, water accumulates each day and penetrates deeper into the tool. The wood becomes rough and swells. The tool distorts and fastenings tend to pull away. Before too long, the professional craftsman must replace his tools in order to maintain the quality and quantity of his work.
This history of rapid deterioration of professionally used hand tools is especially true of tools used with concrete, cement, and plaster; as well as the wooden handles of hammers, hatchets, and the like.
Contributing to the frequent and inefficient handling to which such tools are subjected is the fact that they must be regularly set aside while the work is plumbed and/or leveled. Then the level, in-turn, is set aside and the tool taken up again.
The inventor is unaware of any prior art directed toward stabilizing and extending the useful lifetime of such tools used under such adverse conditions. Nor is he aware of any efforts to increase the efficiency of use of such tools when the need to frequently plumb and level the work is mandated. These will be seen to be objects of the present invention. The inventor is aware that women are entering the building trades in increasing numbers. His use herein of words such as craftsman, workman, and the like, are therefore to be taken as generic and not to imply gender, and to avoid the awkward his/her type of usage.